artist dorrie lane with giant vulva sculpture. female genitalia will be displayed in lobby of the masonic auditorium at the ""Vagina Monologues''. But because of objections by Masonic managment, it will be covered up until right before the show. PHOTOGRAPHY BY PENNI GLADSTONE

The vulva billed as the world's biggest -- a 12-by-9-foot sculpture of the female genitalia that snagged the prize for best float at last year's San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade -- will be hauled up Nob Hill on Feb. 11 and placed in the gleaming marble lobby of the Masonic Auditorium.

It's one of several works -- among them a neon vagina and a huge ball composed of bras -- that will be on view there the night of Feb. 12 at a benefit performance of Eve Ensler's hit play "The Vagina Monologues."

Gloria Steinem and state Sen. Jackie Speier, this is one of 700 "V-Day" performances of the show worldwide to raise money for groups working to stop violence against women (10 percent will go to the women of Afghanistan).

But because of objections from the Masonic's management, the giant vulva and "The Braball" will be covered up with sheets until the doors open for that night's performance.

"It's the San Francisco version of the burqa," says Dorrie Lane, the Oakland artist and sex educator who made the 300-pound vulva. The parts of the steel-framed piece, some of which move, are variously upholstered in purple velvet, red velvet and gold lame.

A self-proclaimed "vulvalutionary" who makes and sells hand puppets in the form of her favorite organ, Lane wasn't surprised to learn that her work would have to be temporarily hidden, which she considers censorship. After 15 years of doing this stuff, she said, "I'm used to it."

Censorship is not a word the Masonic's general manager, Chris Carpenter, would use to describe the situation. He's the guy who initially asked the show's producers if they'd be willing to put the two big sculptures in the inner corridor -- an idea they nixed -- and later agreed to their compromise proposal to cover the pieces during the day.

"I felt the sculptures could be inappropriate in the lobby during the day when the general public has access to it," Carpenter said.

"We have a lot of people who cut through our lobby; we have a school (the Cathedral School) across the street. We don't know what the general public that passes through our lobby will find offensive. I am erring on the side of caution."

Such concerns did surprise Melissa Howden, the executive producer of the local V-Day event, which is sold out. Among other things, she thought putting artwork in the lobby would stir up some fun.

"It's the year 2002, we're doing a benefit performance of 'The Vagina Monologues' and San Francisco is a forward-looking city," Howden said. "I didn't expect this kind of objection here and now.

"We wanted to create an environment that would show that the expression of this kind of art, the social awareness of issues, goes beyond the play. There are a number of artists working to raise the issue of abuse against women."

Howden had a discussion with Carpenter, whom she thinks is a very nice guy, about art and censorship. Howden wondered, "Why is a woman's body part, and a piece of clothing that supports women's body parts, so scary?"

As for Lane, she's looking forward to hoisting her giant vulva onto a trailer -- with the help of "six hunky male friends" -- and driving it uncovered, weather permitting, from its Fisherman's Wharf storage facility along Van Ness Avenue to Nob Hill.

"If every girl who had a Barbie doll had a vulva puppet she'd have a very different view of her body," Lane says.